Sports: A Game Of Inches

We are four humble men who love sports, but hate sports commentary. Peter Gammons is our hero and John Madden is our enemy. If you were to ask us our purpose, our answer would be simple: "We are forever locked in Mortal Kombat for the souls of sports fans everywhere. Statistics are our science and 'the immeasurable character of men' is the obsolete religion of blind faith. Our job is to prove that God doesn't exist and that athletes are merely cold, metal machines with no hearts or souls."

Is your MLB franchise underwater with a poorly mortgaged future? Refinance now with Guaranteed Rate!!

Seriously Guaranteed Rate - you couldn't make the logo look like a home plate? Instead, like the Sox, you chose to stick with an underwater/upside-down house rather than to do things differently. Read this quote from Guaranteed Rate's CEO about their decision to not change the logo, and tell me you can't see this coming straight from the mouth of Kenny Williams about the White Sox:

"We've had it for 16 years, and we're not going to change it," he said. The Sox "asked us if we'd change it, and we considered it and looked at different logos," but "felt it was important to keep it the way it was, as much as some fans disliked the down arrow."

The Chicago Bulls have a player named Nikola Mirotic stashed away
overseas and their waiting until the right time to bring him to the NBA. Their
giving him more time to develop his game while an spot opens up on the current Chicago
Bulls roster. Not too many people know much about Nikola Mirotic, including myself
so I thought now would be a good time to learn more about him. The guy who
should be the number two man for Derrick Rose in a few years.

Nikola Mirotic was drafted by the Houston
Rockets with the 23rd overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.
His rights were then traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves and then his rights were
traded to the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls still own his rights, even though he is
still playing overseas for Madrid. In 2011 he signed a five year extension with
Real Madrid, so the only way he will get out of that deal and come play for the
Chicago Bulls in the NBA will be if the Bulls buy out his current contract and
then agree on an NBA contract, so he won’t come cheap.

The question everybody wants to know is what position
does he play. Mirotic is a 6 ft 10
Power Forward and is currently only 21 years old. Thus, his game is still developing. He is a big shooter who can shoot from all
over the court. Please read his Bio and scouting report.

For a young shooter he has potential, but looks to have room to grow. You can see His Stats and make your own conclusions. He is doing well now and in a year or two should be ready to come over to the NBA. A lot could depend on Carlos Boozer who is currently the starting power forward for the Bulls. When his current contract expires or if the Bulls decide to amnesty him if they think Boozer is not living up to his contract, then they could bring Nikola Mirotic over. Or if they think Mirotic is ready sooner they can make the transition for the future.

Hopefully this preview allowed you to get to know Nikola Mirotic a little more. If there should be more of him in the future.

The Chicago Bulls season just started and they are 4-3 on the
young season. The team with the best record in the east for the
last two seasons are coming into the 2012-2013 season as
an entirely different season and the underdogs. Yes, the
underdogs even though they had the best record in the eastern division for the
last two years and won the Central division both seasons. This is because this
year they don't have their star player and leading scorer. The NBA is a star
driven league and without a star of his caliber many experts and myself
(not a expert) don't consider the Bulls a top team in the Eastern division and
the NBA.

The key is the
eastern Eastern division is not a strong division. Without Rose
the Bulls could probably make the playoffs, but the bottom of the playoffs. I
think the 6 or 7th seed. Last year they were eliminated in the first round of
the playoffs when Rose got injured. Without Rose they would not have
a chance to advance far into the playoffs. If the Bulls can
hang in there until they get Rose back they could be a strong enough playoff
team.

Please vote in the
poll on side with how many wins you think the Bulls will win this season.

Over the last three years
GOI has had our Fantasy Basketball league. We had our draft a few weeks ago and
were back for our fourth year with a few changes. We kept it an
Auction League like last season, but changed it from a Rotisserie to a Head-to-Head. Channing
the scoring format came with controversy in the league. We had some of the
league members that wanted to make it Head-to-Head and others that
wanted to keep it Rotisserie. There is a
big difference between the two. Finally after polling all of the members, many
who have played in the league last year or longer we decided to change the
scoring for the majority of the league.

With two weeks in the books
I have to say I am not a big fan of Head-to-Head scoring for Fantasy
basketball. I feel for some fantasy sports Head-to-Head is the only way
to go such as Fantasy Football, but for other sports like Fantasy Baseball and
Basketball (especially basketball) Rotisserie makes more sense. Like this
season I like the team I drafted and talent on my roster, but not off to a good
start because I have too many point guards on my roster with 6 and not enough
big men. This was because all of the big men were going for too expensive after
the cornerstone big men I bought to build my roster around.

Here is how my team turned out:

Here is the team TBO drafted:

Like every year TBO and
myself have our rivalry for first. He is off to the early lead because I am in
the basement while trying to figure out this new scoring format for basketball
and making some trades for a better balanced team. There will be periodic updates
about the league.

A few years ago we started picking the winner of each football game on this very site Game Of Inches. We started doing this before there were other websites that allowed us to do more of an automated system than manually tracking each game by hand like we did on the blog. So we moved to do this format and with that, stopped posting updates on the blog. So we will be posting an update mid season (now) and then at the end of the season so you can see how the three of us did in Adam Kaplan, TBO, and myself (Cubsfan4evr).

This year we added a new wrinkle compared to how we have played for the last several seasons. Were playing against the spread for the first time. This was Adam's idea and TBO has embraced it. To put it simply, I am still adjusting and like the old style. I like picking games straight up and none of this fancy stuff.

With Ten weeks in the books this is how the standing look:

TBO and myself are tied for first with Adam slightly behind us. Superdup is also known as TBO.

I should point out in that in week six I had a really bad week and couldn't seem to pick a game correct against the spread.

Also, TBO forgot to fill out most of his picks last week for week Ten. He only filled out two picks (Thursday night and Sunday) and got both correct.

Here is how we did with the number of selections we got correct broken down by week:

Even with Cubsfan4evr bad week in week six and TBO bad week in week 10 because he forgot to fill out most of his picks were hanging in there. We will have a final update after the season with how we did.

We have finally updated the Baseball board bets from 2012 to
see how our predictions were. Yes, we were a little tardy in getting the
results up, but better late than never. We have slacked here at Game of Inches
in not doing any Basketball or football (very surprisingly) but hopefully we
will get our game back together for baseball season again. The contributors are
always talking sports, especially baseball and football and as a result should
have our very popular board bets back.

Early last month I posted my list of the ten best films of 2011. However, I saw more films after this list was posted, including Drive who most people consider the best film of the year and The Artist which just won Best Picture at the 2012 Oscar's (and consider the other 8 films it was up against, it absolutely deserved to win; it did not Hurt Locker any of the other nominations).

So here's my redo list of the ten best films of the terrible year that was 2011.

10) Moneyball

9) The Descendants

8) Larry Crowne

7) X-Men: First Class

6) 50/50

5) Paranormal Activity 3

4) The Artist

3) Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

2) Drive

1) Young Adult

In terms of both enjoyability and quality of the movie making process Drive is probably the better movie but I just enjoyed Young Adult so damn much. I saw Drive once it came to DVD and once it got a lot of hype online whereas I saw Young Adult in theaters on its opening weekend. If I saw Drive in theaters it would probably be my #1 selection but Young Adult is my personal favorite.

After Jason Reitman's last project, Up In The Air lost steam as the perennial favorite in 2009 eventually losing all Oscars to The Hurt Locker, the crew of Young Adult tried to calculate release dates of the film as well as choosing not to enter it into film festivals such as Cannes because they determined that it is films that come out of nowhere and peak at the right time that win Best Picture. The last three Best Picture Oscar winners- The Artist, The King's Speech, and The Hurt Locker- are prime examples of this. But in doing so YA shot itself in the foot and ended up getting no Oscar nominations. I believe that if the film had gone about doing what it normally does then at minimum it would have been like Up In The Air where at least if it is not going to get any Oscar wins it will at least get Oscar nominations.

I think history will not be kind to Young Adult and that in ten years we will collectively determine that the best film of 2011 was Drive and I won't throw up a huge fight with them, but I will stand by my original selection of Young Adult

Here is what i thought would win a month ago. But opinions and facts have changes. Not only have all the Guilds tallied a final vote, but momentum has changed in a month, and my opinion of who I think deserves to win has changed- mainly because I've seen more movies. The only movie of 2011 that I still need to see is Shame and that will probably only affect who I think will win Best Actor but here is my final* list.

As always I will break up these "winners" into three categories. First, who I think will actually win The Oscar for a particular category. Second, who I think SHOULD win based based off of the ACTUAL Oscar nominations. Third, who I think SHOULD win based upon every movie that was released in 2011.

BEST PICTURE

What Will Win: The Artist
What Should Win (Actual Nomination): The Artist
What Should Win (Every Movie): Young Adult
NOTE: Drive is probably the better overall film and is #2 on my year end list, but I just love Young Adult

Who Will Win: Viola Davis (The Help)
Who Should Win (Actual Nomination): N/A
Who Should Win (Every Movie): Charlize Theron (Young Adult)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Who Will Win: Christopher Plummer (Beginners)
Who Should Win (Actual Nomination): Nick Nolte (Warrior)
Who Should Win (Every Movie): Andy Serkis (Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes)
SIDENOTE: Shout out to Patton Oswalt (Young Adult) who would be #2 on my list

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Who Will Win: Octavia Spencer (The Help)
Who Should Win (Actual Nomination): Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)
Who Should Win (Every Movie): Shailene Woodley (The Descendants)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Who Will Win: Woody Allen (Midnight In Paris)
Who Should Win (Actual Nomination): Annie Mumulo and Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids)
Who Should Win: Diablo Cody (Young Adult)

I think Best Cinematography is the most underrated award the Academy offers up. The average movie goer doesn't realize how important cinematography is to a movie and for those of you who don't know, a cinematographers job is to determine the look of the film. He literally sits behind the camera and is the main person filming the movie. Now the director has some say in what the cinematographer shoots and, generally speaking, the two work together. However, how a movie looks to you is because of the cinematographer.

The Tree Of Life is a critics darling and while I will never see it because it looks boring as shit, everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, says that at minimum it's beautifully shot and just looks amazing.

Not only does (I'm sure) the film look good, as I said, very few people actually know what their looking for or know what they're doing when they talk about cinematography, it makes it tough for the average Academy member to vote on this category. That's why really the only people who vote on cinematography are cinematographers and those within the guild (The American Society of Cinematographers) are really the only ones who vote for this award. And the ASC this year voted Lubezki as the best cinematographer of the year and I expect they'll do the same when it comes to the Oscars.

WINNER: Emmanuel Lubezki

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Woody Allen (Midnight In Paris) vs. N/A

Leading up to the Oscar nominations, Allen was not only nominated for writing Midnight In Paris but he had won all the writing awards. Allen won the Golden Globe for writing Midnight (the Globes don't make a distinction between original and adapted screenplay) and won the Critics Choice for Best Original Screenplay. But then the Oscar nominations came out and that is when we saw how much the Academy REALLY loved Allen. Midnight In Paris was also nominated for Best Picture and Allen received another nomination for Best Director. Since the Oscar nominations came out the Writers Guild of America awarded Allen with Best Original Screenplay.

Midnight In Paris won't win any other major Oscar but I guarantee Woody Allen will get an Oscar this year for his screenplay

I think The Descendants is the full on favorite but I wouldn't be surprised if Moneyball wins as I would be if Woody Allen or Emmanuel Lubezki loses.

Payne, Faxon, and Rash have won the WGA for Best Adapted Screenplay but Zaillian, Sorkin, and Chevrin won that same award at the Critics Choice Awards and neither won the Golden Globes for Best Screenplay (that went to Woody Allen, see: above).

However, The Descendants have all the momentum as the WGA win is more important for their Oscar chances than a Critics Choice win is. Not only are members of the WGA members of the Academy who also vote on Oscars (something movie critics do not) but the WGA win came out later than the Critics Choice win.

The Academy honored Moneyball with 6 nominations and The Descendants with 5 so it clearly likes both films just as equally and I think Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillian are both extremely well received in the writing world (each has an Oscar for screenplay writing) but I think this is Alexander Payne and The Descendants year.

WINNER: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash (The Descendants)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Octavia Spencer (The Help) vs. Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)

OK, realistically this is absolutely Spencer's award. She won the Critics Choice, The Golden Globe, and the SAG award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Minny Jackson in The Help. I just want to give McCarthy love not only because she was excellent in Bridesmaids but Hollywood now loves McCarthy. McCarthy won the Emmy for her role in the television show Mike and Molly mainly because she in now a bona fide movie star. I wouldn't be shocked if she is able to ride this wave of fame to an Oscar win but I think here the nomination is the win.

WINNER: Octavia Spencer (The Help)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Christopher Plummer (Beginners) vs. N/A

Albert Brooks was the best person to dethrone a Plummer win for his role in Drive, but since he (shamefully) did not even get nominated, this award absolutely belongs to Plummer. Plummer won the Critics Choice, SAG, and Golden Globes and 15 other awards (like the San Diego Critics Choice Awards) for Best Actor In A Supporting Role. The only other actor to win more for Best Supporting Actor wins was Albert Brooks (he won 17). Not only was Brooks amazing in Drive (SIDENOTE: Everyone associated with Drive got fucked by the Academy- it didn't get nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Actor, or Best Original Screenplay) but the Oscars have in recent years traditionally given awards to the great bad guys of film like Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men, Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, and Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds. However, the closest thing to a bad guy out of the five nominations in 2012 in Nick Nolte in Warrior- and he's just a shitty dad. Christopher Plummer does deserve an Oscar for his life time of work but in the context of this one year, I would have liked to seen Albert Brooks at least have a chance to win this award. Or Patton Oswalt for his amazing work in Young Adult. Or really Andy Serkis for being Caesar in Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.

WINNER: Christopher Plummer (Beginners)

BEST ACTRESS

Viola Davis (The Help) vs. Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)

Again, another award that is realistically not up for debate and is not a contest. Meryl Streep always has a shot at winning an Oscar because she is Meryl effing Streep but this is Viola Davis' award. Streep won the Golden Globe but Davis won the Critics Choice award and the more important SAG award.

What also helps Davis is that people and Oscar voters have not only seen The Help, but loved The Help. I'm not quite sure how many of them have actually seen The Iron Lady and liked it and I'm under the suspicion that the Academy only gave Streep her nomination just because she is Meryl effing Streep.

WINNER: Viola Davis (The Help)

BEST ACTOR

George Clooney (The Descendants) vs. Jean Dujardin (The Artist)

This is the hardest main award to predict. Two weeks ago I would have said Clooney had this in the bag but now, it's a legit coin flip who I think will win. If I were a betting man this is absolutely a stay away.

Before the Oscar nominations even came out I thought this was Clooney's award to lose. Hollywood LOVES and I mean has a full on hard on for Clooney and he won the Critics Choice for Best Actor as well as won a Golden Globe for his role in The Descendants. Clooney always makes great speeches and he has never won an Oscar for Best Actor In A Leading Role (His acting Oscar win was for Syriana and that was a supporting role).

But what I missed and stupidly overlooked was that Jean Dujardian also won a Golden Globe for his role in The Artist. Clooney won for his role in a Drama whereas Dujardin won his for in role in a Comedy or Musical (which is silly because The Artist is really neither).

Then came the SAG awards came out and even though The Artist didn't win Outstanding Performance By A Cast (we'll get to that later) Dujardin did win and beat out Clooney for Best Actor.

And if there's anything Hollywood loves more than George Clooney, it's itself. And that's a huge appeal Dujardin and The Artist has (that and it is actually a good movie). So what does Hollywood do? Vote for George Clooney or itself?

WINNER: Jean Dujardin (The Artist)

BEST DIRECTOR

Michael Hazanavicius (The Artist) vs. Martin Scorsese (Hugo)

Hazanavicius has the DGA win and the Critics Choice win working for him but the fact that Marty won the Golden Globe and has an impossible name to say or spell working against him.

The Artist could easily sweep the Oscars this year and it will be lead by winning Best Director but Martin Scorsese is like Meryl Streep, he can never be counted out. The thing working for Scorsese is that he keeps getting screwed year in and year out at the Academys. He lost directing Oscars for directing some of cinemas greats like Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, and Goodfellas. Now the Oscars made it up to him by (finally) honoring him with the award in 2006 for The Departed but the Academy still owes a lot more to Scorsese. Another thing working for Marty is that he probably did the best job in terms of directing this year. I was bored to death by Hugo but that was more of a script problem than a directing problem.

What Hazanavicius has going for him is that out of all the films that got Oscar nominations (which basically just includes Young Adult and Drive) he directed the best one.

WINNER: Michael Hazanavicius (The Artist)

BEST PICTURE

The Artist vs. The Help vs. The Descendants

The last time a film won Best Picture but did not win Best Director was in 2005 when Crash won Best Picture yet Ang Lee won Best Director for Brokeback Mountain and has only happened one other time since 2001.

A lot of the reason I think Hazanavicius will win Best Director is because I believe The Artist will win Best Picture. Not only did The Artist win the PGA, the Critics Choice Award, and its Golden Glove nomination but it's actually a good film. The only reason I went in to see The Artist was because it was the Oscar front runner and I went in thinking it was going to be elitist garbage. I came out really enjoying the film. In this terrible, awful, no good year for movies, The Artists shines above the rest. Sure its partially by default but a win's a win.

What The Help has going for it is 1) No backlash like what The Artist has 2) Both average movie goers and Hollywood loved The Help and 3) It won and beat out The Artist for Best Acting Ensamble at the Screen Actors Guild eerily reminding us of 2005 when Brokeback Mountain was the clear favorite and then Crash won at the SAG awards and then (rightfully) stunned the world by winning the Oscar for Best Picture. Like 2011, 2005 was also a pretty bad year for films making it easier for an upset.

What The Help has working against it though is that it wasn't even nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay or Best Director. Paul Haggis received a nomination for both writing and directing Crash in 2005. It's hard to say you are the best movie of the year when you are both not well directed or well written. What The Help also has working against it is that a SAG win doesn't really mean all that much. In 2006, Little Miss Sunshine won the SAG award for Best Acting Ensemble when Babel was the favorite at the time yet lost the Oscar to The Departed and in 2009 when Up In The Air was the favorite and Inglourious Basterds won Best Cast at the SAG awards yet The Hurt Locker won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Both Inglourious Basterds and Up In The Air had lost steam by the time The Academy's rolled around. The Artist has not.

The Descendants still technically has a chance and has a better chance than Hugo and Moneyball and Tree Of Life and the rest of the field because it won at The Golden Globes but I still will be super surprised to see it win Best Picture. I can foresee a The Artist backlash and if it does then The Descendants will remain supreme but I wouldn't bet on it.

Recently Game Of Inches just wrapped up their series on the best movies of the past 25 years. I thought it would be fun to piggy back off of this idea and briefly discuss the best year for movies within these 25 years.

There are always going to be crap movies released every single year. I do not think it would be fair to compare years with their worst movies. Rather, I think it is best to compare years based upon their best movies of the year and what critics and The Academy thinks are the best moves of the year. The worst movies of the year stay constant, the best movies do not.

Here is my list for the top ten best years for movies in the last 25 years:

BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR: The Matrix, The Sixth Sense, American Beauty, Fight Club, Magnolia, The Green Mile, Being John Malkovich, South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut, For Love Of The Game
MOVIES ON GOI'S LIST: 2

3) 2010

BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR: Inception, The Social Network, The King's Speech, Kick Ass, The Fighter, Black Swan, Toy Story 3
MOVIES ON GOI'S LIST: 1

BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR: Good Will Hunting, L.A. Confidential, Wag The Dog, Boogie Nights, Men In Black, Air Force One, Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery, Donnie Brasco
MOVIES ON GOI'S LIST: 1
NOTE: Fuck Titanic!

7) 2002

BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR: Minority Report, Road To Perdition, Catch Me If You Can, Gangs Of New York, The Pianist, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The Ring, 8 Mile, Spiderman
MOVIES ON GOI'S LIST: 0

Coming up with this top ten list was really hard and I had trouble coming up with the correct order. I think I finally got this list to where I like it (for now). I would probably kill myself if I had to go further with this list. That means I'm not going to write (at least not right now) the worst years for movies. But if I did, I am confident 2011 would be somewhere in the top 5. As of right now, in no particular order, here is my top four worst years for movies of the past 25 years: 1987, 1989, 2007, and 2011.

Thank you to all the Game Of Inches authors and special guests for participating in my brain child of trying to come up with the 25 greatest films of of the past 25 years. I know we all could come up with more movies and there were many movies past 1987 that we would have wanted to talk about but we could not. What we do have though is a comprehensive list of what we here at Game Of Inches feel is the 25 best movies between 1987 - 2011.

For a complete list and a review for all of the movies you can either hit the link of the left side of the page to see all 25 films or you can search "25 Greatest Movies Of The Past 25 Years" or you can hit the Label with the same title.

Now that the 25 List has been completed here are some things I have noticed:

- This list does not include either Titanic or any of the Lord Of The Rings flicks. Only one author put Titanic on his list and only one other author put any of the LOTR flicks on his list (The Fellowship Of The Ring). I'm very pleased neither of these films made it on GOI's list. These are movies that seem to make it on everybody else's list and I'm glad to report they did not make it on our list.

- No David Fincher film made this list. That's good because Fight Club is overrated and I'm glad to not see that film on the list (Re-watch the film a second time after knowing the twist and tell me it makes sense). However, I am saddened because Se7en and The Social Network were amazing yet did not make the list.

- There is no film that all six of the voters put on their list. Three movies (#1- Pulp Fiction, #2- The Matrix, and #3- Inglourious Basterds) were voted on by five of the six authors.

- No movie starring Tom Cruise made this list. Part of the reason is because most of his great movies like Risky Business and Top Gun were made before 1987 and the other part of the reason is that his best movies since 1987 were good just not good enough. That is not to say he's made bad movies in the past 25 years it is just that when you limit yourself to only 25 flicks, Cruise films like Minority Report, A Few Good Men, Mission: Impossible, Magnolia, and Collateral are really good but just fell short.

- The actor that had the most film on this list was Tom Hanks with 3 (Forrest Gump, Toy Story, and Saving Private).

Luol Deng was drafted by the Chicagio Bulls with the 7th overall pick in the 2004 draft. If you have been following my post's for a while you know for the longest time I was down on Luol Deng because he never lived up to his potential. He was always good, but never great and lived up to all the athleticism that Bulls fans thought he could. This was early on in his career when he was trying to develop into the type of player he wanted to be. Now, he has found the right style to his game being a slasher, jump shooter, and even adding the three pointer to his game. The movement he means to an offense you can only understand by watching Bulls games.

His defense can also not be underrated. He can guard so many 2's or 3's and keep with the top shooter's in the game. Now under his second year under Tom Thibodeau he has really come into his own. With all the nagging injuries that he experienced early on in his career behind him, the mentorship of a good coach has had a endless impact on Deng (and Rose for that matter).

Deng is putting up pretty similar numbers compared to the last few years, but he finally got recognized by the other coach's in the league for his effort and all the little things he does that impact a game. Deng is the glue of the Bulls and deserves to be an All Star!

On the ESPN NBA Today Podcast Mike Yam and Tim Legler talk about Converse "React Juice" Shoes (about 14 minutes in) which was a popular shoe during the late 1990’s. What made the shoe popular was the green juice in the shoe, which was under the heel of the shoe. The shoe was endorsed by Larry Johnson. You can see the popular commercial here:

No one knew if the juice was toxic or not as Tim Legler discussed on the podcast. He started wearing the shoe during the 1995 season when he received a shipment of them. In a preseason game there was an incident where Danny Ferry’s “React Juice” Shoes started leaking and they had to stop the game and clean it up. They thought it was an isolated incident and only one defected pair. Then during a practice in the 1995 season when Tim Legler was wearing the "React Juice" Shoes, it started leaking and almost injured teammate Chris Webber. Webber did a split because the juice was all over the court. They stopped the practice when Legler realized his shoes were leaking. Eventually the shoes had to be recalled.

The lives of two mob hit met (Travolta and Jackson), a boxer (Willis), a gangster's wife (Thurman), and a pair of dinner bandits (Roth and Plummer) intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.

Why This Movie Is Great

Pulp n.
1. A soft, moist, shapeless mass of matter
2. A magazine or book containing lurid subject matter and being characteristically printed on rough, unfinished paper
American Heritage Dictionary
New College Edition

This is the title card that first appears when the film starts and if you have to explain what Pulp Fiction is really all about, this is what you should tell them.

Quentin Tarantino has a special place in not only the hearts of the GOI authors as his films holds both the #1 spot as well as the #3 spot as the best movies within the past 25 years but also a special place in the hearts of this generation and Americana.

As I mentioned in my Inglourious Basterds post, it is extremely difficult to explain why Tarantino films are so great. However, I think the real reason is because Tarantino's vision is just so unique and wonderful. Tarantino creates great three dimensional characters with such amazing dialogue and has amazing action to go along with it. Tarantino is such a brilliant storyteller that you are enthralled with his films from beginning to end.

What makes Pulp Fiction so amazing though is Tarantino's vision of messing with time and space. He revolutionized script writing. Not only is Tarantino able to tell you all these complex stories with a huge cast but he's able to take you in a wild ride without you knowing where exactly you are. It is not until you see the film for a few times that you can accurately take each scene and place it where it correctly goes chronologically.

Other Notes
- Pulp Fiction is all about perception. Nobody sees the same exact event the same exact way. That's why the conversation between Pumpkin (Roth) and Hunny Bunny (Plummer) are purposefully not the same words in the beginning of the film as they are at the end of the film even though it's portraying the exact same event.

- Many have speculated what is in the suitcase Vincent (Travolta) and Jules (Jackson) go to collect. The most common theory is that it's Marcellus Wallace's (Rhames) soul. The theory goes that when the Devil takes your soul he takes it through the back of your head which helps explain why there is a band aid on the back of Marcellus' head and why the code to open up the suitcase is "666". Here's the thing: It does not matter what is in the suitcase. It's a MacGuffin - like the money taken in the beginning of Psycho. It doesn't mean anything except gives the gangsters a reason to be in the apartment to begin with. If Tarantino wanted you to know what's in the suitcase, he would have showed the viewers.

- Speaking of this scene, Jules is having a conversation with Brett. This is the main guy he's talking to in this scene (Do they speak English in What?). During this scene he asks Brett what Vincent asks him earlier about why the Quarter Pounder is called a Royale With Cheese in France. Brett responds "Because of the metric system?" which causes Jules to say "Check out the big brain on Brad!". Many people claim that Jules calling Brett "Brad" is another example of changed perceptions but I always took it as Jules just not giving a fuck. He's going into some dude's apartment to kill them and take a suitcase and he doesn't actually care what people's names are or if he even heard Brett say his name at all.

I will always know Dennis Haysbert as Pedro Cerrano inthe 1989 movie Major League. This is how I remember him from the movie:

Recently I found out that Dennis Haysbert is also in the All State commercials. I was very surprised to find out that that the man I remember as Pedro Cerrano from Major League is the same man. I never recognized him at all.

Were over a month into the basketball season and I never posted anything about players I like for fantasy basketball this season. It’s too late to draft a team, but you can still try to trade for some of these players. I was hoping to post this before the draft, but December was a busy time at work, busy creating the GOI fantasy league, and many other reasons, including not wanting to give all of my fantasy basketball secrets to the other GOI authors and readers playing in our fantasy league. Now that I have some time I decided to post it anyways so you can see the players I was targeting at the beginning of the season.

I don't go in depth on every player and why I like them, but it's a number of things taken into account. Here are the main things I look at:1) Where they are being drafted or bought in an auction league. Value is one the main things I look at and where you can get the best value, early and late in a draft.2) Well rounded players that can help you in as many areas as possible. As we get down the list and more to late fliers they more get more one dimensional, but for the value and potential they are worth it.

These were players I was targeting in the pre-season and as you can see I was right on some, missed on others so far who may turn it around, and some are injured for the season. Players you should or try to trade for:1. Kevin Durant (OKC)- A MVP candidate and worth taking number one overall or buying in an auction league if you had the chance. This is an player you build a team around.2. Russell Westbrook (OKC) –When it comes to PG he doesn’t have the health risk that Chris Paul seems to have or the bad FG % that Rajon Rondo has even though Rondo does so much else well. Westbrook is an elite PG you can build your team around.3. Deron Williams (NJ)- Along with Westbrook, Williams can be a elite PG to build your team around. He has potential to take it to that next level and be a top 10 player, but always seems to disappoint in that regards. This year he has been asked to do too much and his FG% has been suffering, but helping your team in all of the other areas he always does if you have him.4. Al Horford (ATL)- Out for the season which hurts me because I drafted him on all my teams. I was building my teams around Horford and expecting a big season.5. LaMarcus Aldridge (POR)-Having a great season, and I would have rated him higher if it wasn’t for TBO pointing out his recently diagnosed heart condition to me which hasn’t effect him.6. Blake Griffin (LAC)- I loved the value here because I was surprised he was being drafted as late as he was for how he finished last year.7. Eric Gordon (LAC)-Shooting guard is very weak so I was very big season out of Eric Gordon. He is a very efficient scorer and going to be the best player on the team, but injuries have derailed his season.8. David Lee (GS)- I was expecting a rebound season.9. Rajon Rondo – A down year for the man who is always a leader in assist and steals.10. Serge Ibaka (OKC)- He could be the best shot blocker in the league and I thought he would take it to that next level on offense, but with inconsistent minutes that hasn’t happened.11. Brook Lopez (NJ)- He was my second round pick last year who majorly disappointed me. I loved the value for where he was falling this year, but with him missing so much time to injuries it is not good in this shortened season. If you can pick him up on waivers then you should do that ASAP.12. Kevin Martin (HOU)- As I mentioned SG is very shallow and he is the second best option after Gordon, but turned out to be the safest.13. Zach Randolph (MEM)- He has been my sleeper for the last few years because I was able to get him in the 4th or 5th round, but now he finally was getting recognition for being as good as he is. Another guy on my list hit by injuries.14. Andre Iguodala (PHI)- He does a little of everything. After the marquee small forwards he is the best option.15. Jrue Holiday (PHI)- I was big on him and Lowry, but was bigger on him when I was forced to choose. Rarely was I able to draft both of them and a marquee point guard. Only in my dreams!16. Kyle Lowry (HOU)-He has been in the league for a few years, but looked like he was ready to break out this season given a chance and he did.17. Greg Monroe (DET)- A young center who hasn’t disappointed. He is averaging a double double, and passes the ball well for a big man. He also helps is steals.18. Marcin Gortat (PHO)-Also having a good season and block shots.19. Channing Frye (PHO)- A disappointing season and is you can try to unload him if doesn’t look like he will rebound in the second half.20. Mike Conley, Jr. (MEM)- He is having a strong season and helps in all the typical point guard categories.21. Danilo Gallinari (DEN)- He just had an injury which will cost him a month, but he was having a monster season and a top 5 player before the injury. He started coming into his own this season as a elite efficient scorer.22. Marc Gasol (MEM)- Right now he is the second best fantasy center. Besides for averaging a double double he passes well and blocks shots.23. Tyreke Evans (SAC)- For where he was being drafted he is having a nice season, but he didn’t improve like I thought he could. It looks like what we see is what we get with Tyreke Evans.24. Andrew Bogut (MIL)- Injuries seem to plague him every year which is why he was ranked as low as he was, and this year is no different. Before his injury this year, he was on pace for a big season carrying your team.25. JaVale McGee (WAS)- A great value for where he was drafted. He will anchor your team is blocks and help in rebounds.26. Andray Blatche (WAS)-Talk about bust. This is the last year I will ever be high on him. I am officially off the Andray Blatche bandwagon.27. Ty Lawson (DEN)- A very good season in his second year.28. Wesley Matthews (POR)- He reminded me as a cheap man’s version of Danilo Gallinari. Having a very good season.29. Hedo Turkoglu (ORL)- After the few other small forwards I have on this list there aren’t many I like and he was being drafted very late so I liked the low risk.30. Luis Scola (HOU)- Scola is always solid, but not this year.31. Roy Hibbert (IND)- There was several centers I liked this year and Hibbert was one of them. He didn’t disappoint making the All star team.32. Darren Collison (IND)- I drafted him last year over Westbrook and it didn’t work out. Towards the end of last season he seemed to learn his role on the team under his new coach so I liked him again this year.33. Michael Beasley (MIN)34. Jose Calderon (TOR)- I like Calderon every year if nothing else for the assist’s.35. Anderson Varejao (CLE)- Every team need’s a go to need a go to man and I thought it could be Varejao having some help in rookie Kyle Irving. Varejao has been good, especially for the late pickup.36. Paul George (IND)-I liked the potential of George as a scorer and slasher. He reminded me a lot of Luol Deng.37. DeAndre Jordan (LAC)- He’s a one dimensional guy for block’s, but can be a difference maker.38. Jeff Teague (ATL)- Hinrich’s injury opened the door and he took advantage. He shoot’s first which has been the knock on him, but he still averages almost 5 assist per game.39. Samuel Dalembert - I thought he would just anchor your team in blocks, but surprisingly his resurgence occurred this season and he has helped your team in other areas.40. Nick Young (WAS)41. Evan Turner (PHI)

Dwight Howard originally said he didn't want to come to play for the Chicago Bulls. No one understood why he wouldn't want to play alongside MVP Derek Rose and the other great role players we have in Chicago. With a great point guard and Howard the Bulls would have a great chance to win some Ring's for years to come. With a young dominant point guard in Rose (23 years old) and Dwight Howard (26 years old) the most dominant defensive center and a great inside scorer, the Bulls would have a great combination. With the right role players, like the Bulls have now, it’s hard to imagine what the Bulls could do.

The one obstacle was Dwight Howard said he only wanted to be traded to five teams and the Bulls were not one of those five teams. It came out from this Yahoo Article that it was because Howard and Rose are both Addias big endorsers. It wouldn't be good for Addias to have two of their young superstars on the same team. It would be harder to reach more markets if there in the same market!

Later he backed on his statement in the public and said he would go to the Bulls, but we don't know if he actually changed the list he gave the Magic on the Teams he would play for. Adding a player of Howard's Caliber would bring the Bulls to the next level if they don't have to give up Loul Deng who is the glue of the team. The Bull's have a lot to offer the Magic so let's make this deal happen.

Recently Jerry Reinsdorf, chairman of the Chicago Bulls came out and said he doesn't want the Chicago Bulls to host an All star game. The Bulls have not hosted an All Star game in 24 years and he wants to keep it that way. He said Chicago would not host the All Star game unless he was forced to. In this article he explains all the positives for the city, but doesn't think there are many benefits for the team, season ticket holders, and fans. As a Bulls fan I was taken back to hear that they don't want to host the All Star game. I don't know if I would go to the festivities if it was at the United Center, chances are probably not, but it would be cool to see Chicago have it again.

In case you missed it on Wednesday night Will Ferrell introduced the starting lineup for the Chicago Bulls and the New Orleans Hornets. I was watching the game and taken back when he started introducing the Chicago Bulls who were on the road. He introduced the Bulls like I have never seen an NBA team introduced before, or any professional team for that matter. Then the Hornets took the floor and he used the same style. It was a fun and interesting way to see a team take the floor. He took some shots at the players, especially the center for the Hornets...............

Let me start off by saying I love CBS's show How I Met Your Mother. I've been on a HIMYM kick this weekend and probably have been watching every old episode on Netflix that I have never seen or have not seen in awhile. It's probably one of my all-time favorite television comedies. But the show has run its course and/or we need to fucking meet The Mother already.

The reason the show is poorly titled is because it sets up a premise it did not and does not need to. The whole premise of the show is Ted (slash Bob Saget) is telling his kids the story of how he and his wife met. Therefore, we have episode after episode and season after season of Ted explaining to his children how he met their mother. Think about this logically. Ask anyone how they met their significant other. Ask yourself how you met your significant other. It's a five minute story at most. Realistically, these kids (a.k.a. stock footage) would have walked out on this story four seasons ago.

The writers and creators of the show tried to extend the meeting of The Mother by explaining Ted's past relationships and how those relationships brought Ted in a place he needed to be in to where he could meet The Mother. This could make some sense. Still realistically kind of silly, but at least logical. However, at this point in the show's series, that ship has sailed.

The two relationships that are most important to Ted are Robin and Stella. Especially Stella. Leaving Ted at the alter was one of the most crushing experiences of his life. And Ted is madly in love with Robin but that relationship will never work out because the two just want different things out of life. Sure, Victoria telling Ted this in Season 7 was a good cue to the audience to hear this, but completely and utterly unnecessary.

After Ted dated Robin in Season 2 and Stella in Season 3 the show should have forced Ted to meet The Mother. We later learned that Ted meets The Mother at Barney's wedding and so the show the needed to put Barney at a place where he could not only be in a monogamous relationship but also willing to get married. It's extremely realistic to spend 7 or 8 seasons getting Barney to a place where he's willing to get married. It is extremely UNrealistic to put Ted in a similar situation. It was silly of the writers to have Ted meet his wife at a wedding and then it turns out to be a wedding that wasn't Marshall and Lilly's. Why did they choose that scenario for Ted to meet The Mother? He could have met her in any other way but they choose to make it a wedding and then choose not to make it Marshall and Lilly's. It just prolongs the inevitable and makes the audience furious when they don't need to be.
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SIDENOTE: As a man who is soon to be wed, how is Ted the best man in BOTH Barney and Marshall's wedding as opposed to their brothers? Maybe it makes sense for Ted to be the best man in Marshall's because Marshall has two brothers and so choosing Ted wouldn't upset either brother but Barney only has one brother. It's a dick move on Barney's part not to make James his best man and Marshall should have made one his brothers Best Man. My mom has two sisters and she still chose ONE of them to be her Maid Of Honor. Sorry. That is all.
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This brings me back to my point why "How I Met Your Mother" is a terrible name for the show. If the show only lasted four seasons or so then, yes, it's a fine name. Eventually by the 4th season we would meet The Mother and Ted's past relationships would make sense in his 2030 story. But since the show is going to at least last for eight seasons, if not more, it is a horrible name.

The reason the show works so well is because of the group dynamic. The show is just a reincarnation of Friends- and that show had a great name. The title of that show told you that it is just six friends hanging out and for 30 minutes every week you got to see a window into these characters lives. That's exactly how HIMYM is. You care deeply about these characters and enjoy how they interact with each other and the relationships they encounter.

But not only did HIMYM go on a tangent and give itself a name that really does not give the audience a good idea of what the show actually is, it gave it a name surrounding one of the "worst" characters of the show. Ted's character and storyline is probably the worst storyline of the series- no matter what the show's title is.

The best two characters on the show are Marshall and Barney. Some of the best episodes in the past two, terrible seasons of the show (A point I will get to later) are ones centering around Marshall and Barney- especially their relationship with their respected father.

Ted works the same way as J.D. did on Scrubs. He is the glue that holds everything together. You may not like the glue and really want to see everything the glue is sticking to, but you need the glue in order to see the other objects around it. It is because of him that he interacts with the rest of the other characters on the show and binds everyone and everything.

If the show had just some generic title, like Friends, then all of Ted's relationships do not matter, per se. In fact, the audience would care MORE about his later relationships. The show could work the exact same way except just take out the premise that Older Ted is telling his kids this story of how he met his wife. If Older Ted was just explaining to someone (hell, it could have been his kids) the story of his late 20's and early 30's and the fun and goofy things that happened in his life and we had the same plot lines then the show would still be growing strong in its later seasons. But it is not.

Part of the reason Season 7 was so bad was because of Ted's relationship with Zoey. If she is not The Mother then why do we care about this relationship? What's even more frustrating with these later seasons is that they are discounting everything they set up in the earlier seasons. Throughout the episodes where Ted is not in a relationship, the show alludes to how he met The Mother or how a particular event caused him to meet The Mother. For example, we learn that The Mother was a student in the Economics class Ted accidentally taught during his first day of teaching. We learn the fact that Ted runs into Stella and Tony with his yellow umbrella is an important milestone in his life (which did cause Ted to get the teaching job). Every episode ends with Ted explaining why this is some amazing event this in his life. But as we trek further and further along, these major plot points start to become irrelevant.

As we watch Seasons 7 and 8, the train is officially off the track and what we as an audience want to see- Ted meeting The Mother- isn't happening yet. We get a great insight into further delving into Barney's psyche that fact that he's willing to settle down and that he's reconciling with his father and we further develop Marshall's character stemming from the death of his father but the story lines revolving around Ted and Robin (nobody cares about Lily) in the later seasons are strenuous to watch. We know Barney is going to marry Robin so this relationship with Kal Penn and the fact that Robin is STILL staying with Penn is asinine.

Shows want to prolong relationships because audience love the tension between two characters who will soon be together but are not together yet. However, at some point, the tension becomes too unbearable for the audience and the writers need to shit or get off the pot. They need to make the characters come together. The Office (successfully) managed to keep Jim and Pam apart for three seasons but as Karen left and as the fourth season started to roll around, the writers realized they needed to make them come together. The show is trying to recapture that with Andy and Erin to get their old spark back (talk about another show that needs to end, but that's for another post) but that is not coming off as successfully as they would like. Parks and Rec (successfully) kept Leslie and Ben apart but after a season and half the show realized the two needed to come together and it's working very well. But for seven plus LONG seasons, the show has kept Ted and The Mother apart. The reason the other shows put characters together is because that was just the natural order to things and that is what the audience wanted and needed. When the show is entitled "How I Met Your Mother" the natural course of events should have been that sooner rather than later The Father and The Mother should meet. What a crazy notion!

A big part of me wants Jason Segel (Marshall) to leave the show and focus full time in movies. The Muppets was a great success and Forgetting Sarah Marshall is one of my all time favorite movies. With The Five Year Engagement and Jeff Who Lives At Home coming out soon and both looking great, I hope Segel has such great success that he chooses not to resign with CBS after his contract ends and the show comes to its natural resting place. Plus, it's extremely hard for any television program to last more than eight seasons and be good. Jokes and story lines eventually dry the well. I love the show as a whole but I would rather see it conclude properly than keep going on being mediocre at best.

I will do three categories for each nomination. The first one is "What Will Win" which will be out of all the actual nominations which one do I think will actually take home the award. The second one is "What Should Win (Oscar Nominated)" which means out of all the actual nominations which one do I think deserves to take home the golden statue. The third one will be "What Should Win (All Movies)" which means out of every single movie of 2011 which movie or person do I think should take home the award, whether or not they were nominated.*

Best Picture

What Will Win: The Artist
What Should Win (Oscar Nominated): The Descendants or Moneyball
What Should Win (All Movies): Young Adult

*NOTE: While I have not seen every movie in 2011 nor every Oscar nominated movie in 2011 I have seen most. The ones I actually will see from 2011 are: Drive, The Help, and Shame. This list will get updated accordingly once I have seen those flicks.